Tron Uprising Stand Alone Complexity
by Quincey Forder-Denis De Plaen
Summary: When Cmdr Paige found herself in a situation that will prove to be live changing and a true paradigm shift. What will she make of it, and can it be reversable?
1. Chapter 1 Where Am I?

Stand Alone Complixity

a Tron Uprising fanfiction

by Quincey Forder

DISCLAIMERS: Tron and all related characters and concept are property of Walt Disney Company

No profit is aimed for or made through this story, and seek to remain within the limits of fair use

Do not sell or otherwhise require payment to read this! All original characters are mine

-SAC-SAC-

The slight hum the filled the otherwise quiet, stale, air was the first thing the former Cmdr Paige noticed. She could remember how she got here, or what 'where' it was.

Her head was feeling like a bass canon.

Looking around, she had to squint her eyes to see through the penumbra of this...basement.

Everything was dull, grey and dusty, with no glow of streaming data, be it the civilian blue or the military orange or yellow.

As a matter of fact, only a greenish halo provided a slight illumination to the room she was in.

"How the trashbin did I get here?" she growled, then did a double take.

Her voice! It was different. Same tone and general sound, but... it lacked something.

In front of her a screen, imbedded in the desk -like she's seen in archives museum when she was a fresh alpha program, was provided the green halo

only three characters floated on its dark surface

**C:\**

Can it be? A DOS invite? In this day and age?

She sat in front of the pupiter and let her fingers run on the keyboard, requesting the list of the last action

a light caused her to gasp, and then caugh from the the ambiant floating dust.

**ENCOM LAZER ACTIVATION,,,,COMPLETE**

**AUTHORIZATION USER KFLYNN**

She blinked, then shut her eyes.

"_I can help you, Paige, but you have to trust me_." a hooded, cloaked figure in her memory said. "Pavel is closing in."

Her eyes shut open, That voice! It was like Clu's!

Except... except it sounded older, and gentler. That could only mean

"Flynn" She whispered. The very creater of the Grid, and their betrayer. Was it because of him that she was here? In this user forsaken place?

Getting on her feet, she walked away from the pupiter, her hand on the wall to keep a spatial point of reference. Her fingers brushed somethig. A datasheet of sort, then, further, a switch.

A yellowy white light flashed from the ceiling, then bathed the whole room, which wasn't large by any stretch of imagination.

Turning around, her eyes fell on a patroller! She gasped and thoughlessly jumped sideways, her hand reaching up to her shoulderblade,,,and only met with her jacket's material. No identity disk, not even her ICE armor.

FRAG!

An odd sensation in her chest, like pulse, echoed by the tumble in her tamples. But she had more urgent matter to worry about, like that...

Wait a nano!

It wasn't really a patroller, it was a poster of one!

A once flashy colored titled said SPACE PARANOID.

Paige snorted in self derision. If Beck could see her right now, he'd laugh his ass off, she was sure of it!

Laugh it up, mech boy! She thought with a grin, I'm still the better fighter and lightbiker of us!

The thought of the young mech program brought a smile to her lips.

It was unlikely she'd ever seen him, now. Maybe it was for the best, sticking with her would get the kid derezzed, she was sure of it.

Pavel wouldn't hesitate to kill him to get her through him.

"Frag him! Frag that Pavel!" she screamed, punching the wall in front of her, atop a small flight of steps.

She heard two different things, a deaf crack -accompanied to a pain in her hand that brought tears to her eyes- and a click.

The wall moved slightly

She blinked, surprised, looking between her already blacking and swelling fingers and the wall.

"You've got to be fragging kidding me," She hissed, as she went against the wall and pushed it open

She recognized the place immediately. It was Flynn's arcade

But it was dark, gloomy, the games were turned off and covered with sheets

The heels of her boots on the floor echoed in the dead silent place.

Slowly, she head toward the exit.

-SAC-SAC-

Ten years after the disappearance of Kevin Flynn, Alan Bradley was on his way home from a late night at work.

Trying to keep those sharks of the boards from Sammy's legacy -that is, if you assumed the worst and Flynn was really dead- was a full time job, but thankfully, Lora understood and supported his effort, acting like a surrogate mother to Flynn's son.

Son whom was now enterring the rebellous age of his teens.

His pager beeped. He kept it, because he knew that one day, somehow, if Flynn truly lived, he would reach for Alan through this piece of anachronic junk.

Still, it has its use in this age of rapid texing.

For Sam's school to reach him, for example.

As he stopped at the trafic light, it grabbed the small device

"Sam, if you got yourself in detention again, so help me God, I'll..."

It wasn't the school's number,

It was Flynn's Arcade's.

Making a U-turn in the snow covered street.

A million and one thoughs were going through Alan's mind.

It was easy enough to figure where he had been. Only a few people knew where he was going, where he had been before; even less took it seriously.

Could he be back after all these years? Dear God, that's gonna be a nightmare to explain to the Board of Directors and stock holders.

Isolated on an island after his boat sunk? AH! If he tried that, DC comics would see his geeky ass for whatever infrightment he'd make with that lame excuse!

As he arrived in front of the arcade, a figure bolt outside, and slid on the slippery ice covered surface of the sidewalk, ending right in front of this car, miraculously upstanding.

That's probably what saved the person's life, whoever it would be.

He saw her eyes widen in fearful apprehension, and his in horrified recognition

LORA!

He stepped on the brake pedal, hard. The wheels locked, but the momentum and snow reducing adherence of the tires (not) helping, the Sedan continued for a few meters too many, and slammed into the young woman, swooping her off her feet over the hood, windshield and roof.

She landed in heap with a thud and a groan.

The car finally skidded to an halt, and Alan burst out of the vehicle, running toward the fallen woman.

"Oh my God!" he cried, panicked, "LORA! Hang on, baby!"

Only, although she looked like a younger version of her, this wasn't Lora.

Close, but not.

-SAC-SAC-

Paige's world was pain.

She had known her lot of lightbike fall.

Trashbin! Only a few cycle ago she fell off one after... what?

She couldn't remember,

"Oh my God! LORA!" she heard a familiar voice calling. "Hang on, baby!"

So much concern and fear in that voice.

But... her name wasn't Lora. It was the name of her user and creator, before Clu rewrote her code from medic to soldier. Lora Baines.

It felt like a lifetime ago.

Before Quora's... before the ISOs' betrayal and massacre of her friends, coworkers, familly.

"Where..." she gasped, trying to get up from that white noise snow -how come there was WNS in the capitol city of the Grid?! "Where did you hear that name?"

She turned her head and saw his face.

Her eyes widdened in shock.

"Tron. You... you really...live." she hissed in a mix of awe and contempt.

Her eyes rolled up and she fainted, leaving a stunned and puzzled Alan Bradley to catch her.

End chapter 1,


	2. Chap 2: You're Not On The Grid Anymore!

Tron Uprising : Stand Alone Complexity

Chapter 2 « You're Not On The Grid Anymore »

-SAC-SAC-

First thing Paige felt was a numbing ache all over her body and her head throbbing. The second was that she was laying down under warm blankets

An odd smell was filling her nostrils and made her mouth water, but for the life of her, she couldn't place what this smell was. She hadn't smell anything like it in her entire life in Tron City and Argon City.

Slowly she tried to pry her eyes open when loud music startled her fully awake,

A loud raspy voice screamed more than it sang something about breaking some rusted cage and make a run for it.

"SAM!" a female voice shouted from what appeared downstairs, "Shut that damn noise and come down here to eat your breakfast! You're gonna be late for school!"

Paige gasped, the woman's voice sounded just like her own, if just a bit raspier, and older, Almost... motherly.

"That's not noise, Aunt Lora!" a young male voice shouted back "That's Soundgarden! And I don't get school today. Didn't you hear the news? It's blocked by the snow. Don't you love living in Washington State or what!"

Paige blinked. What asnd where is that Washington State? True, the Grid got much wider, it seemed, since CLU started to spread his New Order, but most of the cities on the Grid were already known and linked together by train

Train... A memory popped in her mind; Beck trying to small talk her while that rogue virologist was trying to escape. The train getting out of control, Beck risking his life to protect hers, separating the wagons from the crazed locomotive and being stuck on it, then leaping at the very last nanocycle.

She had to admit it, that program really impressed her. He was daring like her, and more skilled than you'd give an architect credit for, or a mechanic, for the matter!

Thinking of Beck brought a smile on her face. But another though came and wipped the smile of her face. Will she ever make it back to Argon, and to him?

_Get a hang on yourself, Paige! You're not in a romance sim! _

_Though with Beck I wouldn't mind it, or even in a eroge... Boy was he skilled with a tool! That night on the bridge..._

_STOP THAT!_

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes, and took a look at her surrounding.

It was day, but the light was a bit grey and diffuse, not as sharp and defined in Argon City,

Trying to lifting her left hand, she realized it was heavier than usual. Looking at it, she saw it was bound in some white matter forming a cast around her hand.

Another surprise was that she was naked aside from white garment around her crotch. Her skin looked different too, Not the bluish pink she was used to, but brownish pink instead, down to the tip of her breasts that was now a light maroon hued instead of the dark blue she was used to. A white band of fabric circled her upper abdomen and lower chest right under her bossom.

On a chair by the bed she was resting now, she saw a light grey top marked MIT, and matched pants,

By the other side of the bed, a small table was covered with small cylindrical recipients and a glass of what looked like water

There was also a rectangular object with bright orange digits on it, marking **07:55 AM – Feb. 12****th**** 1999.**

That was odd. No indication of the normal cycles, just those alpha numérical digits.

Tentatively, she swung her feet off the bed and rested on the floor, expecting it to be hard and cold.

But it was soft and even a bit warm. Paige blinked in surprise. What the frag was this place?

She dressed fast and searched for her Identity disk, but didn't, couldn't find it. Had however treated her taken it? She hoped she had some time left before the memory loss –

Wait a nano. She hadn't had it in that basement either.

I'm so fragged, she thought. But she wasn't going to go like a damsel in distress! Anything but that!

Steeling her expression and resolved, she reached for the door. It wasn't locked. A bit surprised, she opened it and peeked throught the opening. A hallway and a balcony circling around a central space with a pointed window roof. The walls were smooth and hard, but no sign of any dataflow line anywhere. The young officer stepped on the balcony, balancing her weight on the balls of her barefeet. Looking over ramp she saw a large space divided in two mid levels, one with couches and a nicely sized screen, and another, slightly lower with an installation that reminded her of a kitchen, except there were no dataflow line for the normal sustainers and recyclers there either.

Here, the delicious smell was more pronounced. Two people (programs? Or, Grid forbid, USERS?) could be seen in the kitchen, one female, a bit large but still curvaceous with long blond hair, and a younger male, who was devoring what was in his plate. Paige couldn't seen the woman's face, but there was something awfully familiar to her that Paige couldn't place.

Wait... The young male had called her Lora.

No. Nu-hu! No way!

This couldn't be true!

Noticing a spiralling staircase on the opposite corner, she walked to it, and climbed down.

The steps were cold and hard, contrary to the warm and soft floor in the room and balcony.

When she reached the couch, the young man noticed her

"Woa! Who's the babe?" he exclaimed.

Paige reflexingly palmed her face, but with her cast wrapped hand

"Ow!" she painfully exclaimed, making the young laugh,

She threw him a venomous glare, but he seems to shrug it off

Thankfully, the woman -Lora- smacked his head, and looked at Paige with a bemused smile

"Forgive my hormonal brained nephew Sam, hun." she said with a warm voice, earning an indigned exclamation from said nephew.

Paige tentatively returned the smile, stunned by how alike the blond chubby woman looked like her.

The boy, Sam, grunted and got up.

"Whatever, I'm heading to the park for some surf." he said and leered at Paige's own curves as he walked by her, then grabbed a board of some sort with attaches built on it. "Laters."

Waiting for the boy to get out, Paige reached the kitchen, and looked at the woman dead in the eyes.

"Who are you? Where am I?" the former Cmdr asked in a brisk tone

The woman smiled at her

"My name is Lora Baines-Bradley, my dear. And you are in the subburbs of Seattle, though where my husband found you was in downtown Vancouver."

Those names were unknown to Paige, whom was getting impatient.

"Who are you, yourself?" the blonde asked in a gentle but firm voice. "I have an inkling but I want to hear it from you."

"My name is Paige and I'm –was Cmdr in our liberator CLU's army."

The woman's, Lora's expression went from hopeful to disappointed, maybe even heartbroken.

"I suspected you were from...there, but I expected you to be someone else."

Paige's expression softened when she saw the moistened eyes of the woman before her.

"Whom did you expect?" she asked gently.

"A medic, the last and most thorough program I created, to work with my husband's own Tron. She was almost finished when Kevin, my ex-boyfriend, convinced us to lend us their code for this new grid of his. He completed her and we watched her grow, so versatile and adaptative. She even learned to create music!" she wiped her eyes, pride and sadness mixed in her voice. Paige hoped she couldn't see her eye twitched when she mentionned the name of the traitor, Tron.

"I can't have children, you see. So to me Paige was like the daughter I couldn't never bear." she explained, her voice breaking, tears streaming down her face. Lora swallowed and continued her tale

"Then everything went wrong. Kevin disappeared and our access to the metadata of the Grid went with him. And three years later, my girl she disappeared from the medical directories. I couldn't find them anywhere. She vanished as though she had never existed."

Paige was shaking, both from the shock of the revelation and fury. Had those ISOs no limit? But for the life of her, she couldn't bring herself to tell Lora she was indeed the medical program she thought she lost. But why? Out of shame? She couldn't explain it herself, even to herself.

She tried to change subject, for both their sake

"Where on the Grid are Seattle and Vancouver?" she asked.

Lora chuckled,

"Oh honey, you're not in the Grid, anymore. You're in the real, the physical, analogical world."

Even if Paige suspected it, it was still a shock to hear it. Her knees wobled and she started to collapse, but Lora caught her before she could fall and hurt herself.

Gently she made Paige to sit down and put a plate in front of her.

There was food like she has never seen before.

No fluorescent mash or stripes of energizing data. There was a yellow mash-like mount, with wavy reddish brown strips, curved oblong tubes, flat and frizling disks and a couple squares with grany goldish surface. In the glass in front of it was an orange colored liquid, also devoid of the fluorecent hue the food she was familiar with usually had. This was Users' food.

Picking the fork, she tentatively picked one of the strips and picked it up, then bit it.

Her eyes went wide for a second then closed as she sighed in pleasure.

Lora giggled, "That, my dear, is bacon."

End chapter 2


	3. Chap 3: Must You Humans Name Everything?

Tron Uprising : Stand Alone Complexity

Chapter 3 « Must You Humans Name Everything ?! »

quick author note : thank you for your feedbacks, people ! Though I'm not one of those blackmailers who threaten to stop writing of they don't get feedback, it's still heartwarming to receive them.

This chapter, I'm introducing new and/or original characters but with ties to the TronVerse. Hope you'll enjoy them! And now, unto the story!

-SAC-SAC-

Vancouver, BC

Siege of ENCOM International

EnCon 1999, Stock Holders Special Private Event

Alan Bradley tapped the microphone and winced at the Larsen that followed,

« I swear I'll never get the hang of this ! Wonder if it's related to my VCR. »

A round of laughter rose from the people gathered in the large meeting room, and the proverbial ice was broken.

«Good evening! I welcome you all to the yearly share holders conference. For those among us who have joined our circle since last year and don't know me yet, I am Alan Bradley, CEO of Encom International. This year's conference gives me a bit of mixed feelings. Sadness that this year marks the tenth anniversary of my friend Kevin Flynn's disappearance, but joy at the future perspective. As you know, the vote has passed among you about the construction of a new siege, and the preparation for it over the next six years. The sweetest spot, located on West Virginia Street, right in downtown Vancouver, has a serious contender for it, however. It will be a few months before it becomes known which one, of Shangri-La or us will get the spot, but I have every confidence that we will."

Applause erupted and Alan waited for them to subdue, a smile on his lips.

"There is other possible locations, and the design of the future ENCOM TOWER will vary from one location to another, but here, I give you a brief preview of what each might look like, as they were designed from Jordan Canas-Flynn's concept:"

Alan stepped aside from the screen that descended behind him, and soon, bright CGI rendition of half a dozen buildings appeared on the screen, as a rythmic piano tune by award musician Rob D blared from the speaker.

Hidden in the dark, the computer tech turned CEO grinned. Trust Todd, the young man he tasked with editing the presentation, to pick the classical sounding song from the Matrix soundtrack!

No wonder that Todd and Sam went along so famously, they shared the same geekness at heart.

As the presentation drew to an end and the lights came back on, Alan went back to the microphone.

"Looks promising, doesn't it? But we have plenty others projects to come out before that. And to explain them better, I'm giving you our Director of Developments. Abraham?"

After the presentation, people started to mingle and Alan let out a sigh of relief. Another year's speech done. Interiorly, he cursed Flynn for making him do all that. He was a programer at heart, not a corporate lord. But he had to, to preserve Sam's heritage from being taken apart, piece by piece by those finances sharks. Flynn was the speaker, he could electrify thousands of people with his way with words. He could remember the vibrant speech at the presentation of his book, THE DIGITAL FRONTIER, all those years ago. Almost a lifetime. A femine voice tore him from his reverie. He turned and faced a dark haired woman in her late thirties, clad in a cocktail dress that didn't leave much to imagination. She was a beauty, for sure, but the last person Alan wanted to see. Or, for the matter, to be seen with outside official circumstances. Fortunately, tonight was one of those and she was, after all one of the biggest share holders, third only after Sam and some fundation in the Carabeans.

"Alan, dear friend, that was a great presentation." she gushed.

He gave her a polite but restrained smile.

"Thank you, Ms Seaborn." Alan replied, and she tututed him.

"Now, Alan, there is no need for this Miss Seaborn bollocks. You used to call me by my first name. There, try it now. I'm sure you remember it."

It took every ounce of Alan's self control not to roll his eyes.

"Very well, Ophelia." he conceded.

Her beaming smile, while it could illuminate the whole room, reminded him of a predator.

"There you go. Wasn't so hard, now, was it?" the woman, Ophelia, replied, a manicured hand on her hip and trusting her chest forward, mere inches from Sam's.

"I guess not," Alan politely agreed and added: "What can I do for you?"

"The question would be more like what I could do for you, Alan."

He arched an eyebrow, his demeanor cooling down instantly.

"If you expect a repeat of Aspen, you are for a disappointment, Ms Seaborn."

Her smile slipped for an instant but returned.

"It would be bad for my image to cause the divorce of Encom International's CEO. No, I mean keeping the other big holders from tearing young Sam's heritage apart before he can become of age and claim it."

Alan managed to keep a snort out of his voice when he asked

"And you would do that, why?"

Ophelia Seaborn's attitude changed and she leaned over Alan.

"Don't presume you know me because you got to shag me once, Bradley," she hissed in a whisper, pressing the red painted nail of her finger on Alan's pinstripped suit. "Or that you can presume I'm holding shares in Encom for profit. Keep your petty nerdy prejudices against the top corporate officers for yourself. Like I said, I'm not in it for profit."

"What else?" he snapped back, grabbing her hand and pushing it off his chest

"Because I believe what Flynn wrote, what he said. True, I don't go around shouting it on every roofs from Vancouver to San Diego's Convention Center's Hall H. What he was talking about has a name, you know? Several, as a matter of fact."

Some alarms started to ring in Alan's head. He better make sure Seaborn never met Paige, Who know what she would do if she was ever to learn that a program made it here, in the real world.

"Such as?" he asked, trying to sound curious."

"Such as transhumanism, extropy, technological singularity take-off."

"aah a fellow adept of Ray Kurtzwheil's theories." a new voice commented. "I hope I didn't interrupted you folks."

"Not at all, Abraham." Alan responded immediately, grateful for the interruption. "I believe you know Ms Ophelia Seaborn? Ophelia, this is my old friend and Director of Development, Abraham Beckett."

She smiled at the black skinned older man, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Of course I do. A pioneer in the learning processing for artificial intelligence projects. I heard about the loss of your Autonomous Building Learning and Extrapolation software, last week. I hope they catch the hacker who crashed that server." she extended her hand, and Dr Beckett shook it, keeping contact fort as short as politely possible.

"I wouldn't bury ABLE just yet, Ms Seaborn. It is a pleasure to see you out of our lab and in a more civilized occasion. You look stunning." the older man complimented, his greying moustache quircking up. He glanced at Seaborn's slender upper arm left bare as the shoul she was holding slipped when they shook hands. A light blue tatoo adorned the albaster skin.

"Interesting tatoo you have there, Miss." Beckett commented. Seaborn laughed if off with a wave of her hand before quickly pulling the should back up and hiding the corpus delicti, a blue hexagon with a capital T rotated ninety degrees on the left.

"Memories of my college years." she chuckled, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

She looked around and waved at someone. Soon, a beautiful young woman, black with short black hair and dressed in a pearly white tailleur approached.

"Lucy, be a dear and call Gibs to bring the car to the front. The champagne isn't favoring me tonight."

"Right away, Ophelia" she replied, then turned toward the to men "Mr Bradley, Dr Beckett."

"Lucy." Alan saluted back, wondering how such a sweet and competent young woman would work for someone as manipulative and cold as Ophelia Seaborn.

"Luc...Lux." Abraham replied, smiling warmly at the young assistant who beamed briefly at him before heading toward the staff's door.

When Alan turned, Ophelia was nowhere to be seen. Alan blinked. He wasn't sure what exactly happened. The champagne was just fine, and he knew she had, at least, one full glass of it and showed no trace of incomfort. Looking at his old friend, he saw the doctor grinning smugly.

"What was that all about?" Alan asked, perplexed.

"College years' tatoo, my black wrinkled ass!" Beckett laughed. "Back last summer, when Todd started to date Lucy, or Lux as she prefers to be called, she often came home and enjoy the pool. And it so happen Lux and Seaborn have the exact same tatoo, at the exact same place. When I asked her what it represented, she said 'Natural life prevails everywhere, no matter how hard some try to squish it for perceived perfection'."

Alan chuckled and sipped at his glass

"That's a mouthful." he joked.

"Yes, but the way she said it, the conviction, it stuck on me. Anyway, Alan, I'm heading out, myself. If you need anything, you know my number."

"Yes, I'm thinking about doing the same and head back to the hotel. Going back to Seattle first thing in the morning. Thanks for the rescue. And good L-word to Todd for his master at CALTECH. His security program doubling as maintenance app is very, very promising. Kinda remind me of what I came up when I slightly older than he is now."

Abraham smiled and nodded.

"I'll let him know you said so. You and Tron are his inspiration for his project. He's been working on it for over a year now. Beck, he called it. Bit easy, but it has a nice ring to it. See you at the office, my friend."

SAC- SAC

Paige was sitting in the kitchen of the Bradleys' home as Lora, her 'mother', was checking on her hand, freshly out of the cast.

"Well, the bones have healed well, no nerve or ligaments were damaged. You should be able to regain full mobility in a few days." Lora stated after releasing the young woman's hand.

The young soldier smiled gratefully. Things like wounds took a while to be fixed here, no easy way like opening the source code and fixing it there.

In the month that she spent here, Paige went from one surprise to another, all her preconception about the Users -with capital U- were all dust now. They weren't gods, and were all too failable, like programs were, back on the Grid. If anything, they were the extension of their programs, or maybe it was the other way around.

Sure, Lora was competent, both as a medic and computer scientist, forgiving, kind, sweet and smart. But she was also very opiniated and a temper 'worthy of a red head' had once joked Sam, earning a smack on the back of his head from his aunt. And when she knew for sure she was in the right, she wouldn't let go, ever. Just like Paige, as a matter of fact. Like mother like daughter, one would dare to say.

For the last few days, the two women had been a bit at odd, barely speaking to one another, but careful not to let it noticed or beholden by the teenaged boy.

"Thank you." Paige said, getting up.

Lora pushed her back on the chair gently but firmly.

She looked at the younger woman, whom she has come to see as her daughter, with concern.

"Paige, I heard you scream, las night. Did you have another nightmare?" Lora asked

Paige turned her head away.

"That's the lot of all soldiers who faced the ennemy, isn't it?" the veteran replied numbly.

Lora sighed and poured some tea in a mug, which she put on the table in front of Paige.

"You shouted a name, repeatitively." Lora stated

"Beck's? It's true I miss him. More than I though I'd ever would. But..."

"You said Quorra, not Beck, sweetheart." the blonde woman corrected gently.

"What?!" Paige gasped. That traitorous bitch's name?! _Why would I call her name if my sleep?!_

Lora smiled and nod.

"Friend of yours?" the User asked.

"I used to think so." Paige snorted in self-derision. "Until she killed all my friends with her side kick, Ada. I should have expected that from ISOs, but I foolishly trusted them, and they betrayed me. Quorra she attacked me and left me unconscious."

Lora listened to her digital born daughter figure, tapping her chin.

"You never told me really. what are ISOs, exactly?" Lora asked after a minute of silence.

"They're autonomous, independent, user-less programs. They came out of the Simulation Sea before I was activated. Over the Cycles they created their own cities. Ajra, Bostrum, to name of a few. Other wandered to and fro BASIC cities. We believed to be rather benevolent, even a bit naïve and over trusting. Then the joke was on us. They revealed their true natures, virii ridden infections that derezzed hundreds. But CLU put an end to it. To Them."

As Paige was speaking a frown appeared on Lora's face. She had gathered that the Grid wasn't the utopia that Flynn, ever the optimistic and idealist, had described in his book. But to have a regime like that, with such methods. It disgusted her. And she struggled with herself to keep her from being disgusted with her own brain child. _Damnit, Paige! I coded you better than that!_

"Tell me, honey, did you see that Quorra kill your friends. Or any ISO willingly infect or derez anyone?"

Paige blinked.

"No, I was either inconscious, swamped as my internship or not activated yet before and during most of the Purge." she responded, confused.

Lora got up.

"Grab your caught, dear, we're going for a trip." she said in a no-non-sensical tone

"We're going for shopping? Now?" Paige asked, confused,

"Not shopping, Paige. Call this an educational field trip." Lora replied, picking her car keys from the board hanging on the wall.

SAC- SAC

Exhausted.

Her mind in turmoil. Paige felt like her very soul was torn asunder by what she had read, watched, listened to.

Her stomach was still churning and the taste of her bile still filled her mouth.

With a hand she wipped the tears that kept rolling on her cheeks.

Clu had been charming and good looking, tall and athletic, but when you listened to his words, truly paid attention while abstracting yourself from the crowd, what he was saying wasn't that much different from what that shortish shouting man with that little mustach above his down turned hateful mouth. Racial purity for one, system perfection for the other. Marches, conscription, propaganda... decimation of every man, woman and child of a race he deemed inferior. Dangerous and infectious. Like CLU had described the ISOmorphus Algorythms.

Paige couldn't keep her lunch inside when Lora had showed her the microfilms of the archives during the last of the European Campaign of World War II, the monstrosity of the camps they discovered there, the systemactic elimination of a people on an industrial scale.

The begging look in one photographed prisonner from Berchenau, it brought back...

We're not dangerous, we just want to live in peace

_Everything on the Grid was designed by Flynn, except for us. We're free. It's the only reason we're being hunted._

Lora had showed her a book, the diary of a young girl from Amsterdam, in Europe. She and her family were hiding in an attic, until they were flushed out and caught.., And taken to that camp, where she died.

_Please, don't say anything, to anyone._

"I'm like them. Like those nazi monsters." she wept in Lora's arms. "But, if it was Quorra or Ada, then who? Who killed my friends from the clinic?"

Lora sighed, stroking Paige's hair. She was feeling guilty to putting her girl in such distress, but she needed another point of view. Hell, a damn reality check was what she had needed.

And to her question, well, Lora had a few ideas.

"Tell me, sweetheart, who told you that ISOs killed your friends? Was he or she alone?"

Paige shook her head, sniffing. She hated looking, feeling or being weak, but she couldn't help herself.

"It was General Tesler, but he was only Major, at the time. He showed me the remains of derezzed programs. What, you don't think that he would...?" she couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.

"During the War, it has been reported that the Gestapo would commit crimes or felony and put the blame on the Jewish people, even before the War. It would make normal people turn on their neighbour, their friends over the perceived threat that they could be next. Or for the example. Flynn knew that, and from what he had said back then, whatever he knew of our world so did his clone, CLU."

Paige shook, her tremor strong enough to shake Lora with her and topple the chair where she had been sitting on.

"I have to go back. Find the Renegade and see what he knows. Where he stands. Why he fights."

Out of anything, Lora hadn't been expecting that to be Paige's reaction.

"Wait, what?" the blonde asked, blinking repeatedly.

"I need to go back to the Grid. And atone for my crimes there. I though I was doing the right thing. I did worse than just standing by and watching."

Lora shook her head.

"That's not true, baby. We have a saying here. All it takes for evil to triumph is for the good man to do nothing. Didn't you do what you could to protect the civilian programs from what you though was a great threat against them?"

Paige nodded.

"Did you risk your life for them, dispite being part of the occupating army?"

_The chase in the tunnel and the drill_

_The runaway train_

_That poisonous disk_

Paige nodded again

"Then, Paige, you aren't like them. You were misguided and lied to, but now you know better."

Paige hugged the older woman, whom returned the embrace

"You're still going back, aren't you?" Lora asked sadly.

"I have to, Lora. I'll go back, try and find the Renegade. Expose what CLU's army has been doing, then get Beck, find Flynn and get back here, all three of us."

Lora felt such a wave of pride she though her chest, however ample it was, would burst!

"That's my girl. But first you'll need proofs, and see how to get you back there. And I know exactly the place for it."

SAC-SAC

"What do you mean, we can't use the chopper to go to Vancouver? We need to go to ENCOM as soon as possible." Lora thundered at the mechanician that was working on the BELL 222 painted with the company's colors and logo.

"I'm sorry, Doc, but Ted is sick and unable to fly. And Ernesto is in Vancouver on R&R. As a matter of fact, I was taking this occasion to do some maintenance on this aerial wolf." the mech replied with a snort at his own joke. Paige rolled her eyes. Were all mechanics coming with a stupid sense of humor or just the ones she ran into?

While Lora argued and cajoled the greasy handed guy, she sat at the pilot seat. Yesterday, she had told Lora she needed to go back to the Grid. She wouldn't let such detail as pilot sick and another one on shore leave while who-know-what was happening on the Grid.

She was surprised how simple and straightforward it looked, compaired to the extensive augmented reality overcrowed windshield this chopper was. Same cyclic yoke, same anti-torque paddles and the collective stick with throttle command.

"I could pilot this 'aerial wolf'." she said, causing both Lora and the mech to pause mid-argument and look at her.

"It's a stream-lined version of the more complex...military models of choppers than I'm used to, but I don't suppose I need target locking solution or evasive manover over the 290 miles from here to Encom's siege, right? A piece of park and a walk in the cake!"

Lora giggled at Paige's mis matched idioms and the mech laughed out loud

"Well, Let the Control know, just don't mention you have a military licence and not a civil one. But piece of advice, missy, fill the paperwork on the double and get a civil one."

Paige gave him a bright beaming smile and a salute.

"Ayeye, Sir! Will do sir!"

He closed the aisle panel, laughing out loud.

Lora shook her head laughing

"Start the check list while I sign the flight plan at control."

"The what?" she asked in a confused tone. Lora paled at the question "Relax, I'm just kidding."

Lora blinked and maturely struck her tongue at the smirking woman on the pilot seat.

She had to admit that Paige was a good, no, make that a great pilot. Not the best by a longue shot, Paige wasn't that much of a Mary Sue, as Sam's friend Todd Beckett would say, but she knew her way with helicopters.

"You're quite good at that" she complimented over the headset's mic.

"Why so surprised?" came Paige's amused reply.

"Well I expected the commands of a light copter to be more simplistic more, I don't know, video-game like."

"Quite the opposite, actually, For us anyway. I imagine the interface for young users is simplified, but for us, we have to juggle between what the users wanted to do and the actual flighing of the aircraft. Here, I just have to pay attention to the instrument, the feedback on the cyclic and pads and the VOR beacons. Less stuff to worry about."

She left out about the need to dodge light bullets or missiles from enemy aircraft and defence.

While civilians or even the Renegade pose minimal threat, she had faced with Bostrumite pilots who were worth their lines of code. She had lost wingmen in those dogfights, good pilots who though they fighting the good fight on the right side of the war.

Arriving at Encom had been easy enough

It was there that difficulties arrised,

"Lora! Fancy meeting you here!" a familiar and very unwelcome voice exclaimed

Lora groand and pinched the bridge of her nose. Paige turned and saw a woman, slightly older than herself, with long black hair and what looked like an expensive ensemble. And her face, beautiful and perfect looking like the rest of her physique, there was something familiar about her. And...did Paige dream the look of recognition in the older woman's eyes before she quickly masked it. _That's odd, maybe I ran into her own program, on the Grid?_

"I work here, Ms Seaborn, in case you forgot." Lora positively snarled at the dark haired beauty. It was almost like they were competitor during the Game, throwing sentences at each other like they were disks or light staves!

"Part time, yes, I remember." Seaborn turned toward Paige and detailed her from head to pointed booted toe. "I wasn't aware it was a Bring-Your-Daughter -To-Work-Day, today, Lora. I also wasn't aware you were old enough to have a daughter her age. Does Alan know about her? Or is she your dirty little secret?"

Paige, in the last month, hasn't seen Lora so angry, it was almost seeing herself after facing the Renegade when he was in a particularly annoying mood. She rested a hand on the blond haired User's shoulder.

"Aunt Lora, if we could move on, I need that application for my internship and see if that department of yours is suitable for me." she said smoothly. It seemed to do the trick

Lora's shoulders relaxed, and the smug smirk vanished from the Seaborn woman's face like it was whiplashed away.

"I see. Well enjoy your visit, miss..."

"Paige will do."

"Paige. Right. Well I wouldn't hold my breath about working your internship at Encom. Our student rooster is pretty full as it is, and nepotism isn't looked well at in our company."

"Who doesn't try gains nothing. Oh and by the way, Disney called, they wanted their Evil Queen back."

Seaborn opened her mouth, then shut it, turned on her heels and walked away like she had the Devil on her six.

Lora stared at Paige dumbstruck for a moment, then burst out laughing, hard.

"That was PRICELESS! Where did you learn that one?" Lora asked, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

"I heard one of Sam's friends saying that during one of their 'shadowrun' role playing game sessions. I'm still confused, though. What are dwarves and elves? And I though there wasn't female royal ruler that could be considered evil in the real world anymore."

Lora's laughter redoubled, and Paige, knowing she was the one laughed at this time, humphed and

followed the laughing blonde in silence until they reached the lab Lora used to share with Dr Walter Gibbs, before his passing, ten years ago, shortly before Flynn's disappearance. She had managed to keep the department running and funded but Lora knew it was a matter of time. The department was likely to go when the new siege would be built and the offices transferred.

SAC-SAC

The welcome screen of the Flynn OS 5 appeared on the screen.

Tapping on the surface of the desk, Lora moved the cursor to the command prompt window

and typed a string of characters.

Behind them, unnoticed a camera moved.

On the top of the screen the webcam's light blinked green.

As I live and breath -as a manner of speaking- young Lora Baines. Or is it Bradley, now?

Lora chuckled and Paige blinked

"We came all the way here so you coul ICQ? Couldn't we have done that from home?" Paige asked, confused.

The little lady has spunk! I like that.

Paige gasped. On reflex she crouched, weight spread on the balls of her feet ready to bounce, as she looked around, her hand reflexively reaching over her shoulder to her back, but met only with leather.

Lora didn't laugh, but grinned, and motioned Paige to move back and look at the screen

Quit flirting, Dumont. She's too young for you. Entire cycles too young.

Don't you mean 'years', Lora dear? Isn't that how users mesure time in the real world?

_Wait a nanocycle! Did she just read what she though she read?_

"This is Dumont, an AI Walter created before he passed away, you could say that he's CLU's precursor."

oh shucks, Lora! I'm just a program doing what he's programmed to do. Watch over a deserted server.

"Can you reach Argon city?" Paige exclaimed giddily. With someone like Dumont by their side they might have a chance against CLU and his armies, and put an end to their atrocities.

'Fraid not, li'l lady. There is an airgap between the two grids, the old one here and the new one. Flynn made sure of that when Abbraxas first showed up, so the viral contamination wouldn't spread in Encom's systems and servers. I can still monitor the metadata but I have no acces whatsoever in the new Grid. Sorry.

Paige crumbled on a chair

Lora patted her hand and gave a reassuring, motherly smile.

Then Lora typed:

Can you trace activities of a give program on the new Grid?

There was a pause

My, Lora, did the li'l lady made a believer of you ? What have the worlds come to?!

This time, it was Paige's turn to laugh, and Lora gave her a playful punch on the shoulder

I asked you a question, old man. She typed, smirking

Now, now, there is no need for name calling. :P

Paiged laughed at the smiley, it was funnily silly for an 'old' program like Dumont to use such expression mode like the young ones with their cellphones in the real world.

She wondered if Lora's old mentor was like that in real life too.

I can try, but while truthful I'm not sure of how accurate the data will be, timestamp wise. Or the context of the raw data.

"Please try." Paige asked.

Okay. But we need to narrow the search. What do you need?

Paige and Lora looked at each other

"Who killed Paige's friends?" Lora asked, earning a beautiful and grateful smile from Paige.

Programs can't act out of the Grid, Lora. Only way the MCP managed to do was because Dillinger didn't respect the protocol and linked the laser control with the general system instead of keeping separate.

"You don't understand, Dumont. I'm not a user."

What?

"I'm a program, like you. I was sent here, in the real world, by Flynn.

WHAT?! That...shouldn't be possible. BASICs don't have a complex enough code to be translated in DNA, unless you're one of those ISOs?

"What, wait, rewind a minutes, Dumont. Are you saying those Iso could traverse the line, and be reverse digitalized into the real world?"

Paige nodded, "Makes sense, Lora. I had the chance to check an iso's code on her disk. It's complex and self contained in a fractal display, like your own DNA. ISOs don't even need ID Disk to survive."

Lora nodded, digesting it.

"Are you saying that ISOs weren't derezzed like we thought but that they were transported here?" Paiged asked, daring to hope against all odd that the massacre she made herself accomplice by becoming Tesler's lackey was a smoke screen created by Flynn to allow the ISOs to flee here. Not that this realm was much better than the Grid, at least here they wouldn't be hunted or killed.

No. it would have been noticed if half a million new people started popping up out of nowhere in Vancouver, wouldn't it? There is only two ISOs that I know of that were brought here. Though I don't know their human identities, and I'm barred from ENCOM's cadre rooster. All I know is that Flynn brought her back one day, shortly before he vanished on the Grid and then she brought another one, a couple years ago. Pretty little thing too, dark skin, short black hair, clear blue eyes. I know she was there couple days ago, during EnCon.

Paiged was shocked mute, so was Lora.

"Lucy is an ISO?!" whispered Lora, in shock. She was Todd Beckett's girlfriend for a few months, and helped Sam with his economy finals. And that girl was a program?! It felt like Lora had been punched in the stomach. How was she able to fool everybody?!

An odd feeling was starting spread in her chest. What if she was wrong? She was so upset by the compairaison between the blight of the ISOs and the real life's Holocaust that she didn't even stop and think that maybe they weren't so innocent after all. Sure there was innocent civilian among them, but they built cities, Paige had said. That mean people with social and political acumen to make things happen and motivate the masses.

_Flynn, did you open the Pandora's Box, when you brought this ISO in our world? I know my Paige is a good person, her grief and regrets was proof enough. But the one you brought, can you say the same about her?_

Paige made a T with her hands

"Let's get back on what matters most right now. Proofs of CLU's and Tesler's crimes."

The li'l lady is right. Let's see.

A spreadsheet appeared on the screen, filled with binary and barcode numbers.

Can you translate it in English? Typed Lora

Those are names, orders, actions and cycles time code. Like a processes log if you will.

Paige leaned forward and started to read. Then her face paled and she screamed out loud

"No! NOO! NO! NO! NO!" she howled, kicking the chair backward, sending it flying. She held her head, screaming, feeling her heart break.

Her friends, who was like familly to her, who opened the clinic with her and whom posed for the photography she held so long on. They had betrayed her, they had ratted her and Quorra and Ada to Tesler, and he ordered them and everybody in the clinic to be derezzed for aiding and abiding fugitive ISOs. Everybody but her, turning her into a vengeance driven soldier, repurposed her with words as well as recoding her code.

Lora kneeled next to her and held her close as Paige wept for five lived ruined by lies, deceit and mistrust.

Neither of them paid attention when a line blinked into existence on the screen

Oh dear, Cyrus is loose. This isn't good, That's bad! That's bad as it comes.

Li'l lady? Paige? Lora?

$logoff -overide -Oseaborn

$password: ************

Password accepted

AI prototype Dumont logged off

The computer turned into sleep mode, and the camera above the door turned off

SAC-SAC

The white Honda Lora had rented stopped in front of the Arcade.

It as late afternoon, and during winter, in this lattitude it meant the sun set a good while ago.

Still the light sign was still dark, lifeless

Stepping out of the car, Paige shivered and pulled her jacket's fur coated collar closer to her neck. Cold so intense was a pretty new experience to her. As the crunching sound of her feet in the inches thick layer of snow

Lora had saved the spreadsheet on a floppy disk and was going to upload it on Flynn's computer, before heading downstairs to send her back to the Grid

Back home.

But was it home? Not really not anymore.

Still she had to go back, to Beck, and to bring her findings to the Renegade. Together they would bring down Clu, and spread the revolution through out the Grid. Then she'll find Flynn and bring him and Beck here.

Now, this was Home. Here, with Lora, Alan, Sam, and then Beck and Flynn.

That brought a smile on her lips

Lora opened the door, and turned on the light

"Aside from you, and Encom's auditors a few years ago, nobody else came here since Kevin got stuck on the Grid." Lora said as each of the arcade games booted.

The Jukebox started to play as well, making Paige nearly jump out of her skin

Feelin' that it's gone  
Can't change your mind  
If we can't go on  
To survive the tide  
Love div-*

Silence again, and Paige turned to see a smirking Lora, holding the plug of the jukebox in her hand.

"what can I say? I liked Scorpions' Still Loving You better than this one,"

Paige chuckled and asked "oh and which is it, pray tell?"

"Separate Ways by Journey. I bet that's what was playing when Sam was conceived, up there."

paige looked at Lora incredulously with a face that had "TMI" written all over it.

"I'm just pulling your leg, hon. Don't worry."

"When I'm back, remind me NOT to let you and Beck hang together, I'm not sure Alan or I could endure!"

"Pfft! Kevin is a thousand times worse! Or at least he was before Jordan was killed." Lora sighed.

Paige arched an eyebrow. She knew Jordan Flynn, at least by name. On the Grid it was like knowing the name of the Users' Virgin Mary or something. But it was unknown what had came to her. To hear she was killed was another shock piled on the ones she endured on this 10th of March.

"We knew Her name, back there, but not of what happened to her. How was she killed?"

Lora stopped half-way up the staircase and looked at Paige, and answered

"From what we know, it was a drunken driver who crashed a heavy vehicle into her car."

"Poor Flynn, Poor Sam." Paige whispered, then followed Lora up, looking at her back

Even after just one month, she didn't know how she'd cope if anything happened to Lora.

The mere though terrified the young woman.

"She was the light and the love of his life. I'm sure she'd have adored you if she got to know you, sweetie."

Paige smiled at that remark.

The office was smelling of stale air, The furnitures was covered by a layer of dust

"If I got asthma from all this dust, tell Flynn I'm going to sue his ass! No, on the other hand, don't tell him anything, he would prefer to stay in the Grid!"

both woman chuckled and coughed.

"Oh God, this place is a mess. Let's ignite his computer first."

Searching for the button, the blonde doctor brushed against the framed picture, making it topple over, but Paige fast reflexes saved it from hitting the floor.

Paige looked at it. It was a younger Flynn, before he became the gray haired man she met on the Grid, he was wearing flannel shirt, like the one she was wearing now, and black leather pants with a belt buckle written HARLEY DAVIDSON in the middle of a shield. The woman next to her was quite the beauty.

Dirty blond hair, a bright smile and eyes sparkling with intelligence and mischief, along with a perfect hourglass shape.

Paige blinked. Replace her long blond hair with shorter, wavy green ones, and you'd get Mara, Beck's best friend.

The 'Hermione' of the group, as Sam had described her, when she had describe her boyfriend, leaving out, as it was decided, that she wasn't human (not by birth, anyway). When asked whom that Hermione was, the teenager made her read the book his grandmother offered him from when she went and visited England. The story about an orphan who discovered he was a wizard after spending years with unloving uncle and aunt. She had to admit Mara really did have some trait of the Granger girl in the book, though she was still young, and she might change in the further volumes.

"What causes that smile, dear?"

Lora's question brought Paige of her reverie. She chuckled

"Well, I just realized that a friend of mine was modelized after Jordan Flynn. Sam described her like one of this Harry Potter novel's character."

At the mention of the book, Lora huffed. Mrs Flynn hadn't really forgiven Alan and her for adopting Sam while she was still alive, and never missed an occasion to remind them through small hint in the forms of her presents to her grandson. It was clear that the older woman linked them both Alan and her to the unloving relatives of the young fictious wizard, the Dursleys.

Alan, on the other hand, found it hilarous, and said she knew where Flynn had gotten his sense of humor from.

Paige wondered whom Flynn' mother would linken her to, in the book's dramatis personae.

"We better hurry and got done with it before we catch our death, or worse, get expelled!" paige jokingly quoted, earning a smack on the back of her head. Carefully, she put down the framed picture on the desk

"The file is loaded, let's get downstairs in that mess pompously labelled as laboratory." Lora instructed, pushing the still chuckling Paige.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, furball!" the blond mumbled

Pulling the Tron gamebooth proved to be much harder than pushing it.

"If someone had told me that one day I would manhandle Tron I would have derezzed him on the spot, but lo and behold, so I did manhandle Tron,"

Lora laughed and waved her finger at Paige "No more clowns for breakfast, young lady!"

Paige shrugged;"I like your pancakes and bacon way more, anyway."

Lora beamed at her "Good save, dear."

they passed a first door, which Paige recognized, it was the one she came from when she first got reverse digitalized in this world.

"The main frame is in the other room, with the scanner and the interface. The lazer station is in that room, but I guess you already knew that, right." Lora winked at her

"Yeah, and Alan had to play -roughly, I might add- the midwife to my birth in this world."

Both woman shared a laugh.

The lab, surprisingly, looked much cleaner than the lazer room. Was it because it was used more? Or less than the lazer room. Given the frequency of his visits to the Grid, he must have spent more time in the lazer room,

The room itself was pretty crammed with computer related devices, and in the center of the room was a podium made of a metal squared grill and a round stand up plateform. Several arms with segmented rings attached to each one were hanging from the top part of the plateform screwed on the ceiling.

"Let's make a scan and simulation first. I think you should take everything off to avoid interference and a strictly biological matter scan." Lora blushed slightly at the instruction she gave Paige, but the young woman shrugged it off and undressed carelessly

Lora did her best to look away.

Paige looked a lot like her, but there was different enough to make her unfamiliar with her bare details.

Her bossom, for starter, was a bit smaller then hers at her age, and her areolas brownish where her own were a vibrant pink hue, and larger than her own. Chesnut colored triangle adorned Paige's crotch when her own was sparse blonde square, along with a firm and toned butt. Lora smiled with pride. If she had a daughter that turned out as well as Paige did, both on physical and mental front, she would be so damn proud! Hell, she already was proud of her, and it tore her heart that her daughter was leaving after such a little time with them. She couldn't even say good bye to Sam -who wouldn't understand- or Alan -who was already gone to work by the time they were up.

But time was the essence, now that they got the proof she needed.

"Ready, girl?" Lora asked, as she typed a command on the touch screen,

Paige hummed a yes, closing her eyes as both the platform and the ceiling piece abover her emitted a bright light. Soon the arms started to move, circling her with their ring segment, bathing her nude body with crosses of lazer light, mapping every square nanometer of her, inside and out, down to her very DNA, that was somehow translated from, well, basic code.

Lora, scratched her head as she looked at the simulation, in the form of a ID disk' diagnostic application. Instead of the normal hive nest textured sphere of a BASIC code, there the hive nest was double and twisted in a simili double helix.

"Hum, Paige, honey, are you sure you aren't ISO?" Lora finally asked

Paige's eyes flew open in shock.

"what do me, if I'm sure? You know damn well I'm not!"

"Well could have fooled me" Lora replied activating the large flat screen hanging from the roof on a separate arm. Paige's eye widened even more, if it was possible.

"Oh my god" she whispered.

/ $simul digitalization -subjct

on the screen a radium green line started to read the present body's DNA and adapt It to the code on the other side, but halfway through the recombination, the helix structure collapse. Another attempt with a cobalt blue line began, and ths time the helix exploded.

Different colors and combinaisons were attempted, all ending with catastrophic results.

_**SIMULATION RESULTS:**_

_**-CRITICAL FAILURE**_

_**FORECAST CONSEQUENCES**_

_**-SYSTEMATIC DEREZZING FROM CODE COLLAPSE**_

_**PLAUSIBLE CAUSE(S)**_

_**-CORRUPT DNA**_

_**-HYBRID/SPLICED CODE AT THE TIME OF ORIGINAL DUPPLICATION**_

_**-ABSENCE OF ORIGINAL/MASTER COPY OF PAIGE SOFTWARE ON THE GRID**_

_**CONCLUSION**_

_**FORK REINTEGRATION IMPOSSIBLE**_

Both women stared at their screen and both exclaimed at the exact same time

"What the FUCK?!"

SAC- SAC

Alan dropped his spectacles on the coffee table of the living room, and rubbed his face with both his hands, letting out a deep sigh.

"Okay, run that by me again. Paige, OUR Paige, is what, a copy, and there is another Paige who is still on the Grid, hunting Tron and that Renegade down?"

Lora nodded "That pretty sums that up, yes."

Alan groaned.

"That Flynn! Even in another dimension he still managed to drop his problem on doorstep!"

"ALAN!" Lora snapped loudly "Don't let either Sam or Paige hear you say that! EVER! Do I make myself clear?!"

Alan nodded strongly, and mumbled something about mistaken identity between one Petunia and one Molly.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" she shouted the question

_Crap! She heard me!_ He thought before squeaking a meek "Nothing, dear!"

Upstairs, two doors opened on the balcony and the occupant looked at each other.

"Whipped." the young woman mouthed.

"Big time!" the teenager mouthed back,

they looked at each other and burst in quiet laughter

He motioned her to come in.

Sam looked at her, It was impossible to miss the kin looks between Paige and his Aunt Lora. No knife could give such a good and natural likeness.

"So, somebody stole your identity and you can't prove whom you really are, or go back home, is that it? That's very..."

"Messed up? Fucked up?" Paige supplied helpfully as she sat Indian style on Sam's bed cover.

"Jason Bourne-y," Sam corrected.

Paige looked at him, dumbfounded "A character from your Harry Potter book?"

Sam scoffed, "As if!" he climbed from the bed on the top half level of his room where the bookshelves were built, in such a way that reminded Paige of the Renegade's parkour moves, and picked a book from a shelf, and dropped it on the bed next to Paige, startling her.

"Oh, jumpy aren't you?" he playfully mocked her.

"mmhh!" she responded to him, strucking his tongue at him before chuckling. Reading the title out loud, she turned to look at the teenager "The Bourne Identity? Is that Ludlum writer any good?"

Sam snorted "Any good? He writes circles around Ian Flemming, no question about it!"

Paige said nothing, and looked at the young man to develop.

"His stories are much more gritty and realistic. I guess it's because he wrote this a couple decades after Flemming did his first Bond novels. The Bourne books form a trilogy: The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Ultimatum. Or the other way around, I've only read the first so far. It's about that guy who's found floating in sea, nearly dead, by fishermen in the Mediterranean Sea. He makes a recovery, while on the boat, but still lack his memory. Only hints he got suggest he's American. So he goes to the Consulate, and that's where the shit really hit the fan, as the saying goes. That guy, Bourne, he doesn't posture or hit on the ladies like Bond, he go for the jugular of his adversaries, BAM! BAM! BAM!"

Raising her hands she leaning backward, "Easy there, Mr Super Spy," she chuckled. "Don't spoil the book for me before I get to read it."

Sam blushed and nodded

"sorry. Too much sugar, like Granny says."

Paiged smiled and noticed that his TV and VCR set was turned on,

"What are you watching?" she asked softly, resting a pillow between her ead and the concrete wall.

"Promise you won't say anything?" he whispered conspiratiously.

She winked "I promess I won't tell your uncle and aunt and grandmother that you're watching porn if that's what worry you."

"PAIGE!" he hissed, blushing beet red.

"Okay, okay, I won't say anything to anybody." she promised, placating him.

"Okay, listen, it's something that Todd, my best bud, gave to me, it used to air on TV a few years ago. It's about a race of winged being many call demons or monsters, but they're really protectors, it's in their blood, like they're programmed with it, if you will. So they live in that castle in Scotland, in the 10th Century, under the rule of a spoiled brat of a princess who kind of dispise them. The leader of these creature, he's called Goliath, he doesn't let it get to his head and shows patience, Kind of like a winged version of Optimus Prime. Anyway, the Castle is attacked by Vickings, but the creatures block the attack. Goliath and his mentor go to try and scare the vickings but realized too late they've been scammed and are unable to come back before the sun rises. They're transformed into statues until the next sunset. The vickings attack the castle, destroying most of the creatures in their statue form and kidnap the princess and her magician prick. Goliath comes back, freaks out and decided to go after the Vickings at their camp, but find four survivors he grounded the night before, saving them. They go after the vickings, all five of them, but the leader of the vickings try to make run for it, with the princess has hostage..."

Paige chuckled and said "Breath, kindo, I'm not running away, to take your time. So the vicking dude with his hostage?"

"Right! The vicking and the traitor, argue, and fall off a cliff, almost taking the brat with them, but Goliath saves her, at the price of his vengeance. Problem is the magician dick -who obviously digs the princess- freaks out completely and curses the four others. Sleep until the castle is above the cloud, blah blah blah. Goliath basically suicide by asking for the same curse to be cast on him. Fast forward a millenium, the castle is bought by a billionaire, rebuilt on the top of a skyscrapper, breaking the curse. Talk about culture shock, right. Fall asleep in 10th century Scotland, wake up in 1994 New York City! That's where I arrived when the shouting match begun downstairs. Wanna watch with me?"

Paige smiled at him and nodded "Sure, I'd like that, Never really got a chance to truly relax and watch television before."

Which was, basically, the truth.

Sam smiled and pressed PLAY then went to scoot on the bed close to the pretty lady – _who can very well be your aunt's sister or cousin, or whatever! DOWN, BOY! _

Looking at the screen, focusing on the block that fell off on the street, Paige squinted her eyes

"What could leave claw marks on solid stone?" she mused aloud, just as the dark skinned detective wondered the same thing.

Sam looked from the screen to Paige and back, shaking his head amusedly.

When the woman -Elisa, she had introduced herself to the officer- talked to the blond haired four eyed man, and his boss, Paige whispered "He's lying."

Elisa, on screen didn't believe him either, as she went to investigate

...and met with a huge dog like reptile.

"Wow! This isn't Gozer, boy! Down!" Paige gasped

Sam looked at her laughingly "Ghostbusters reference? Seriously?!"

At the same time, the cop back pedalled over the parapet.

"Raaah! Not you, idiot! Him! The dog! Zuul!"

Sam had hard time following the action, as he was laughing so hard from Paige's voiceful reactions. It was like watching Mystery Science Theater 3K on a Disney cartoon, and loved every minute of it

the next day, Goliath and the bearded elder met with Elisa on a nearby rooftop.

She asked in a sexy husky voice how sh could call him.

"Ach! Must you humans name everything? Does the sky need a name, does the river?" the elder replied with a scottish accent.

"That's the Hudson River, right?" Paige whispered as she remembered reading tourism books about the main cities in the world, enough to have a passing idea about wat the world was like.

As if she heard the question, Elisa answered. "Actually, this river is called the Hudson."

the elder sighed "Aah very well, then, I'll be the Hudson as well." he groused.

It was like someone lit a firework in Paige mind,

That was perfect! She had watched a few cop drama in the month she's been living here, but it never clicked until then. Until that one Detective Elisa Maza. How come she hadn't though of that sooner, instead of mopping alone in her room?

It was close enough to what she was doing in CLU's army, tracking down the Renegade and stuff.

And she had found the one thing she missed. She couldn't call herself Baines, it would raise too many questions she didn't wish to answer to. But Hudson.

Paige Hudson.

Detective Paige Hudson.

It decidedly had a nice right to it!

"Sam, honey, youu aaaare a GENIUS! Thank you!"

She kissed his cheek hard, and burst on the balconny, leaving a stunned Sam Flynn on her wake.

"PAIGE HUDSON!" she screamed, as she leaped over the hand rail when she arrived then steps from the bottom of the stairs.

Alan and Lora both yelped in fright, their argument forgotten.

"What about Paige Hudson? Who's she?" Alan asked, putting his glassed back on his nose.

"Me, silly!" the normally collected soldier woman gushed "that's going to be my name!"

Lora looked taken aback and a bit hurt too "But I though you would be called Paige Baines?"

Paige turned to Lora and smiled to her

"Believe me, there is nothing I'd love more, but don't you think it would raise too many question? Especially from nosey bitches like that Seaborn broad we met yesterday?"

"I guess" Lora conceded, sniffing a bit.

"Beside, what daughter bears the same name as her mother's maiden name, especially if she had her young and out of wedlake?"

"Wedlock," Alan corrected absently.

"Yeah, out of that too." Paige nodded, making the business man snort and his wife giggle. "Beside that Seaborn woman would buy it, lock socks and barrells. She provided the idea herself!"

This time both Alan and Lora were laughing.

"What?" asked Paiged, vexedly.

"It's lock STOCK and barrel, baby." Lora giggled.

"You need to work on your real world idioms, girl." Alan advised, still chuckling a bit himself.

She didnt mention her desire to become a detective then. Not yet.

Alan rose from the couch and went to the phone

"I'll call some friends of mine, I know they can help you with the paperwork you're gonna need."

She smiled and nodded her thanks

"At least I don't have to get myself a forged disk, that's how I ended up in this problem, with forged disks and some con artist in Purgos." she smiled wickedly "I could almost give Pavel a big kiss thank you, because if he didn't framed me, I'd never had met my it would freak him out, which is always a plus.

Alan laughed, as he dialed a number on the phone.

"Abe, it's Alan. I need a favor."

SAC-SAC

"Personnal belongings here. Please check you have everything that been listed." a security officer droned, picking a clipboard.

"One walled with fifty five US Dollars and two hundred Canadian Dollars. An eight shaped..."

"Infinity." a deep voice corrected.

"Beg you pardon?" the officer asked, looking up from her list, staring at him from above her half circular glasses. One of the bigger security guards, armed with a shoulder piece bent riot gun, approached, in case the man tried anything stupid. Which, considering he was being released after a five years sentence, would be incredibly stupid.

"Watch it, poozer!" he warned the soon-to-be former con.

"Eigh shaped belt buckle. Santiags pointed boots. A torn copy of A Catcher In The Rye and a pair of ray ban sunglasses. All correct? Sign here, here and here."

the man signed and the required place, placed the items on the adequate places.

The officer slammed a bus ticket on the counter.

"Here's a ticket for the bus. Next one is coming in two hours. Hope we'll never get to see you again, O'Reighly."

"Nope, ma'am, Chief Halloran, ma'am, Not a chance in the world of that happenin'."

O'Reighly grins, and the tatoo on his face, made of countless celtic knots, looked more like a grinning skull than usual. He ran a hand on his close buzzed red hair and heading outside, holding his jacket, provided like the rest of his clothes, by the State as the minimal gear for released convicts.

"Yes, you'll be dead of hypothermia before the bus is even there, you daft moron." Officer Halloran drawled from behind her desk.

"Somehow, I doubt it." he said as he watched a rather long car engaging in the parking, O'Reighly let out an appreciative whistle. "My, would you look at that? A limo to pick me up right out of Kent Institushun! Balor must really really like me!" he commented.

The car stopped and a door opened

"Ohhh mama!" he exclaimed at the sight of the tasty morcels in front of him. A beautiful white woman, with long black hair, medium but firm tits that he'll enjoy play with and fishnet clad legs that just went on forever! The black chick wasn't bad either if you liked the Grace Jones figure. Very athletics, bit skinny but with good enough looking assets and long lith legs. And those lips, yeah! He really couldn't wait until they were... WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?!

An old man, about seventy five years old, looking thin but sinewy with a trimmed grey beard and a piercing really piercing gaze. For some reason he was dressed like a clergyman but his guts told him he was anything but.

"Hello, Mister O'Reighley. I understand you just purged a sentence of five years for several computer related felony including but not limited to hacking and corporate sabotage and creating a dangerous virus?"

It was the white babe who spoke, with a rich sensual voice to promised hours of pleasure or torture -or both- if the mood so took her.

"Is that correct, Mr O'Reighly?"

"No, it's not." he repled simply

"Then get out of my car." she simply stated, like a fact that couldn't be conterdicted.

"I didn't create him as much as I poured him out of me and into the Grid. he first masqueraded as a guarding program under the stronguest program around, then adapting as het stronger one and learned from him or her and surpassing it. He is the ultimate predator of the Grid, the apex predator of all programs, adaptative, vicious and undisputable."

"And yet he was quarantined." the clergyman stated. "Tron stopped him."

O'Reighly snarled

"Yeah, Bradley's digital bitch took that part of me away. Oh and call me Mr O'Reighly again and I'm going to rip your stick of a secretary apart. And who tha fuck are you, to begin with."

The woman smiled, and a deep, cold shiver ran through O'Reighley's spine.

"Very well. I'm Ophelia, this is Lux, and this is the honorable and eternal, Father Jelen. Now, my handsome, tatooed friend, what shall I call you?"

A voracious smirk spread on the tatooed face.

"Like my program. Call me Cyrus."

End of chapter 3

A/N I know that we saw Lux being derezzed at the end of the fift episode, but remember, that smirks she had. And remember what Paige said about fractal image and what a fractal image is.

As for the "honorable and eternal Father" Jelen, remember we saw his hand fall down and his circuitry go dark. But not derezzed. And the same happened to Rinzler.


End file.
